Football: Ridley’s tough defense stops Conestoga

Tredyffrin >> Ridley’s strong first-half defense proved to be a tough nut to crack for host Conestoga in the Raiders’ 28-14 football win at Teamer Field on Friday.

The Green Raiders (5-3, 4-2 Central League) held the host Pioneers’ offense to one first down in the first half, and did not allow Conestoga to penetrate Ridley territory until the third quarter.

Ridley controlled possession in the first half and by halftime built a 21-0 lead against the Pioneers (5-3, 4-3). With six minutes to go in the game, the visitors led 28-0.

“In the first half, even for three quarters, I thought our defense did a great job of mixing up some things, putting on a little pressure when we had to, play some coverage,” said Ridley head coach Dave Wood. “I think Conestoga is very dynamic on offense, they have some good wide receivers and their quarterback [Peter Costigan] runs the heck out of the football. No. 7 [Brody Eaton] is a great tight end. We came in tonight with a defense that was moving around a little bit, throwing some multiple looks at them, and did a good job.”

The first quarter was scoreless, but Ridley drove all the way down to the Conestoga 11 yard line before a Raider fumble gave the ball to the Pioneers.

Early in the second quarter, from midfield, Ridley began its first touchdown drive, punctuated by several Ryan Carroll passes for solid gains. On 4th-and-7 at the Conestoga 12 yard line, Ridley junior wide receiver Khameen Powell reached high in the end zone to grab a Carroll pass for a touchdown.

“I thought (Powell) got a little bit of inside coverage, so he changed that to a fade route, and it was a really nice throw by our quarterback,” said Wood.

With 3:19 to go before halftime, on 3rd-and-5 at the Conestoga 24-yard line, Carroll, under pressure, passed to senior wide receiver Kimir Stephenson, who was wide open near the goal line. Stephenson went in for the score for a 14-0 lead.

Following a three-and-out, Conestoga boomed a 59-yard punt to pin Ridley at its own 7, but an 18-yard run by senior running back Owen Bosak put the visitors in better field position, then two plays later, Bosak broke open down the left side and outran the Pioneer defenders for a 74-yard touchdown to give Ridley a 21-0 lead with 59 seconds to go before halftime.

“That was a big, big run that gave us a huge lift going into halftime,” said Wood.

Meanwhile, the Ridley defense held Conestoga’s offense in check for the first half, as the Pioneers punted four times by halftime.

“I thought our inside linebacker, Connor Kelly, played really well,” said Wood. “I thought Joey O’Donovan, one of our safeties, had a lot of tackles – he came up on the outside and made some key plays for us. His brother, Stephen O’Donovan, played well too.”

Stephen O’Donovan scored the final touchdown for the Raiders with 10:25 left in the game, a 14-yard TD pass in which he was wide open on the right. The TD drive began with a 46-yard punt return by Powell that took the Raiders down to the Conestoga 26 yard line. The touchdown gave Ridley a 28-0 lead.

“(Powell) did some really good things tonight,” said Wood. “Same thing with Paul Jackson when we ran the wildcat offense – he made some great plays tonight. In these big games you expect your good players to step up and make big plays, and between Stephen O’Donovan, Paul Jackson, Kimir Stephenson, Owen Bosak, Khameen Powell, they really played well.”

In the final six minutes, Conestoga scored its two touchdowns. From midfield, Conestoga quarterback Peter Costigan led the first touchdown drive, highlighted by an 18-yard run, a 14-yard pass to his brother Tommy, and the scoring play, an 11-yard pass to Brody Eaton on fourth-and-goal. Eaton reached up over the Ridley defender in the end zone to make the catch and cut Ridley’s lead to 28-7.

In the final minute of play, Conestoga began another touchdown drive, and on 4th-and-5 at the Ridley 25 yard line, Peter Costigan hit Eaton over the middle, and the Conestoga receiver, who was open, ran in for the score to make it 28-14 with 31 seconds left.

“I thought our defense was very physical tonight – and in the fourth quarter, we had some dumb [defensive penalties],” said Wood. “We’ve got to get a little bit better late in the game in our pass coverage. You just can’t take your foot off the gas pedal against a good team like Conestoga, because before you know it, it’s a tight football game.

“I just wish we would have done a better job of closing it out in the second half, but you take the win, you move on, hopefully we move up a little bit in the [District 1 power] rankings, we have two games left and we have to win both.”

Conestoga head coach Matt Diamond said, “Ridley has some dynamic playmakers on the outside, and they put their kids in the right positions tonight, and we had some mistakes. It was our final home game [of the regular season], Senior Night, and I was certainly proud of our fight at the end, but we got ourselves in too much of [an early] hole to dig ourselves out of.

“But there was no quit in our kids, and I’m very proud of our seniors, who have done so much for our program over these last three years. I thought our kids had a good week of preparation, but Ridley played well, and it was a physical football game. I thought our kids showed some great fight in the second half, and we’ll use that as we get ready for our next game against Radnor.”